Sputnik

For the rest of the years that i will be alive on this Earth, i may never get an answer if we have alien life forms in space. This may take a very long time, but at some point in the future, we may have the technology to find answers, that we can not find today. Do i believe that there are other life forms out there? I would probably say yes, since we have no idea what could be living in all the planets that we have not discovered yet. Some of you might have read about the planet called K2-18b, where articles last autumn mentioned that they have discovered water on this planet. Fascinating of course, and who knows what else they might discover as they continue to look into this planet. When ever i think of space and films, i always return to one of the best sci fi horror films ever made, and that is of course the 1986 film known as Aliens from director John Carpenter. I know a lot of Alien fans love the first film more than this sequel, but i personally prefer the sequel to the original film for a number of reasons. Aliens does not only include fantastic special effects, but this film is very well made, and is in my opinion the best film from director James Cameron. His camera technique in this film is brilliant, and he manage to capture the claustrophobic atmosphere really well. I have to say that this film also manage to combine action and horror in a much more effective way than we have seen before. The cast in this film does a wonderful job as well, where especially legendary actress Sigourney Weaver is fantastic as Ripley. If you for some reason have not seen Aliens, then you should pick this film up right away on DVD or Blu Ray, but see the extended cut, it is the best version of Aliens. Earlier this year, around spring time, i got to see a trailer for a new sci fi horror film from Russia called Sputnik. This film looked really good, and seemed to be a throwback to sci fi horror films of the 80´s and 90´s. Not knowing bascially anything about the cast or director, i have been very excited about watching Sputnik. Is this the best sci fi horror film for many years, or does Sputnik fail to please me ?

In 1983, two cosmonauts are on a mission in space. Suddenly, something goes terribly wrong and they crash land on Earth. One of the cosmonauts, Konstantin Veshnyakov ( Pyotr Fyodorov ) is the only survivor, as a Kazakh horseman discover the crashed space shuttle. Konstantin is taken to a military base, where Colonel Semiradov ( Fedor Bondarchuk ) need psychologist Tatyana Klimova ( Oksana Akinshina ) to travel to the base and interrogate Konstantin. What she does not know, is that Konstantin did not land on Earth alone, something else came along with him.

If you have been worried that we will have to wait forever to see a great sci fi film, then do i have some good news for you. Sputnik combines 80´s nostalgia with old school alien ingredients, but focus more on telling the story from a military facility. And this is where the 80´s references fits in so well, with all the old gadgets, costumes, guns, and the offices as well. I also think the colors of this film feels a bit like the 80´s in Russia, since it was a rough period for the country at that time. The characters that we are introduced to through out the film, does a good job portraying their characters, and especially actress Oksana Akinshina ( who i especially remember from my favourite Lukas Moodyson film Lilja 4-ever ). Her character Tatyana in the film Sputnik is confident, intelligent and looks fantastic. A psychologist who clearly takes her job very serious, and is also very professional. Actor Pyotr Fyodorov, who plays the surviving cosmonaut Konstantin, makes sure that we are given a solid performance. There are other actors who do a good job as well, but we have to talk about the biggest problem of Sputnik. And that is there are so many dialogue scenes. I can understand that there needs to be dialogue scenes between Tatyana who tries to get information from cosmonaut Konstantin, but when you let these scenes go on far too long, you sort of loose some of the interest in the investigation. The strength of Sputnik is without a doubt understanding the Alien, who takes Konstantin´s body as a vessel, and comes out certain moments. And this is where we get to see the behavior of the Alien, and how Tatyana tries to connect with the Alien. The design of this creature looks really good, so they did a good job with the CGI effects. There are some brutal scenes later on in this film, and i think it is good that they decided to go in this direction, because this will definetely please fans of sci fi horror. Director Egor Abramenko have made a film that does not only respect the sci fi genre, but also give us a film that takes itself very serious. Egor uses his camera technique to give Sputnik some depth, and he also manage to capture the essence of the 80´s as well. Sputnik may not be as brilliant as i was hoping for, but this is still one of the better Alien films, at least this year. If you love sci fi, then you need to see Sputnik. If there is one film that will convert Fifty Shades Of Grey fans to become normal again, it is Sputnik that is the shining light that they have all been looking for.

Rating: DDD